Crime & Safety
Store Clerk Tries to Steal a Winning Lotto Ticket
Muhammad Irfan Khan told an undercover investigator that his three scratchers were duds, then pocketed one worth $1,000.
A 48-year-old Anaheim man pleaded guilty today to trying to steal a winning lottery ticket and was immediately sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of probation.
Muhammad Irfan Khan pleaded guilty to felony second-degree burglary. As part of the plea deal, charges of attempted grand theft, computer access and fraud, perjury and presenting a false claim to a public board or officer were dropped.
Khan, who was working as a clerk at FM Food Store in Fullerton, was approached by an undercover California State Lottery investigator with three scratcher tickets, two of which were losers and one indicating a $1,000 prize, Senior Deputy District Attorney Robert Mestman said.
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Khan checked them in the California Lottery computer system and then lied to the investigator, saying they were all losers, Mestman said. Khan pocketed the winning ticket, Mestman said.
Khan mailed the winning ticket to the state lottery, Mestman said.
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--City News Service
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